This webinar provided an overview of the research behind literacy for second language learners, the different variables that influence a second language learners' reading abilities, and strategies to improve instruction for these students. Drawing from her research and experience, Dr. Esther Geva discussed the different skills and variables that…

In many middle and high schools, literacy is seen as secondary to school reform; it is often perceived as being a problem for only a few students-that improving the literacy abilities of students is remedial in nature and should not be part of the "normal" classroom. It is felt that improving literacy levels should be the responsibility of English…

Elizabeth G. Sturtevant, a professor of education at George Mason University, holds a 33-year record of college-level teaching, scholarship, and service that centers on adolescent literacy. Her research helps clarify the pressures that affect teachers' literacy instruction, the role of secondary school literacy coaches, and adolescent…

Although textbooks summarize large quantities of data and have some advantages, they may discourage conceptual thinking, critical analysis, and evaluation. Comprehendability and its elements (coherence, sequence, match, transition, and self-monitoring) should be major criteria for textbook adoption. (SK)

Describes the reading problems specific to these high school content areas: learning a foreign language; English; history; science; and mathematics. Asserts that while it cannot be assumed that all can become equally literate in all areas, teachers must provide students with as much content area background as possible. (KH)

Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are…

Reflects on the author's experiences teaching a course on great documents in American history to high school students, concentrating on teaching the Declaration of Independence and the "Federalist Papers." Countering the students' tendencies toward superficial reading and encouraging deep analysis are the teacher's primary goals. (SLD)

Notes how discussing poetry as oral language helps high school students relate poems and imagination to their everyday lives. (RL)

The author makes a case for replacing the traditional English term paper with short repeatable research assignments as a better way of developing students' reading comprehension and self-management skills in the writing process. He appends a sequential task outline for the stages of a research assignment. (SJL)

Includes five articles with the following topics: a computerized reading motivation/comprehension program used to enrich a high school curriculum; a summer reading-ahead program for seventh and eighth graders; educating students about censorship; protecting books from theft; and an author's visit that showed a high school how to integrate reading…

This paper describes a study which examined the effectiveness of explicit instruction in English intonation in listening tasks in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course taught to four Japanese high school students. The students' exposure to real-world English listening situations had been limited, and the majority were focusing more on…

Cognitive theories normally applied to listening comprehension are applied to the use of visuals with mass media broadcasts for second language instruction: the visual image as advance organizer, as reinforcement of concrete information, and as an association with abstract information. A related study in Germany is cited and illustrated. (MSE)

Because of the difference between narrative and expository material, students in grades 4-12 require different reading skills, as well as different levels of skills to comprehend subject matter reading. This means the content area teacher has two roles: subject matter specialist and instructional leader. The following model suggests a process by…

The problem of a perceived decline in secondary school students' reading comprehension and the efforts of one high school English department head to address that problem are described in this paper. The first section of the paper presents an extensive documentation of the decline in reading comprehension and of reactions by state and local…

A 2003 survey of principals found that middle and high schools were more likely to increase social studies and science instruction than decrease it. This suggests that districts are not cutting social studies and sciences entirely but merely "deferring" those subjects until the secondary grades. This strategy provides more time for reading…